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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8.9% of people aged 15 and older engaged in weightlifting from 2011 to 2015.[1]Sports and exercise among Americans. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily. Accessed 12/12/2023. The bench press is a movement included in that exercise modality. The average amount of weight each person can bench press is based on several factors—including an individual’s weight and fitness level, but not necessarily age or gender.
Gauging how much you can bench press safely doesn’t have to be difficult. Read on to learn how to best determine your bench pressing abilities, to explore the types of bench press you can try and learn the benefits and risks of including bench presses in your fitness training.
The bench press, or chest press, is an upper body strength training exercise that involves lifting weights above your torso while lying on a workout bench. Professional bodybuilders, elite athletes and everyday gym goers use this exercise to build muscle strength as well as increase muscle size.
The bench press exercise mainly utilizes the chest muscles (pectoralis major), deep shoulder muscles (periarticular), and parts of the arm that include the primary extensors of the elbow joint (triceps brachii), the anterior deltoid that moves the arm forward when walking and a portion of the upper arm called the biceps brachii.
The purpose of bench pressing is for lifters to improve their performance of the exercise with practice and repetition and gradually build up to lifting heavier weights. The general goal of the bench press is to improve and maintain upper body muscular strength.
“There are probably at least a dozen different varieties of [the] bench press [exercise],” says Ryan Horton, a Georgia-based strength and conditioning coach.
Two of the most common varieties are the barbell bench press and the dumbbell bench press, according to Horton. “These two staple exercises can then be [subcategorized] into the flat bench, incline bench and decline bench variations,” he explains. Each variation can be completed by either changing the equipment used or adjusting the angle of the bench, simply angling it 30 to 45 degrees higher for incline variations or 10 to 15 degrees lower for decline variations.
“I often start off each bench press routine having athletes do a set with no weight on the bar,” says Horton when working with bench press beginners. From there, he recommends a slow gradual increase in weight. To complete a bench press properly, Horton suggests following these steps below.
According to Horton, an individual’s size, or body mass, can affect how much they can bench press. “Weighing more can help you bench press more weight,” he says. “Keep in mind that losing body weight often includes some muscle mass loss which can negatively affect how much you’re able to bench press,” he adds. Body mass doesn’t always necessarily correlate with muscular strength, however. For instance, individuals with excess body weight often face muscle performance limitations, hindering their ability to increase mobility and build strength. Thus, low-weight bench press exercises may be more suitable for this weight group.
Regardless of your body size, the amount of weight on the bar should never change your technique or approach to each rep.
According to Horton, a person’s biological age generally doesn’t affect their ability to bench press, but their “training age” can. “Training age simply refers to how long you have been training,” he explains. The length of time dates back to one’s earliest training experiences to now. The idea is that people who begin training in their youth will have a greater training age than biological age, and will have a more advanced training age than those who begin training later in life.
For bench press beginners, Horton says the body may have to learn new neuromuscular pathways to support the new movement pattern. Neuromuscular pathways are when your brain and muscles get on the same page with learning a new movement pattern, according to Horton. As your body adjusts and becomes efficient at completing the movements associated with bench pressing, it’s common to see an increase in the amount of weight you can bench press, he adds.
Like biological age, gender doesn’t necessarily influence how much a person can bench press, according to UFC Gym district fitness director Andrew Hennebelle in Corona, California. “Much of the movement isn’t affected by gender or age to be performed correctly,” he explains.
“What is affected is the muscle mass behind the movement,” he adds. Pre-adolescent youth have a distinct disadvantage in strength capacity [compared to adult men and women]. However, the same principles for strength adaptation can occur in their bodies.
The charts below highlight the bench press averages for men and women between the ages of 18 and 39 based on their body weight.
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The potential benefits of bench pressing, according to Horton, include improving overall upper body strength and power, as well as increasing bone density. The horizontal bench press, which involves performing the exercise with your back lying on the bench, is often recommended for maintaining and improving upper body performance. In regard to bone mineral density, the bench press exercise is suggested to have favorable effects on forearm bone mineral density, especially.
Another benefit of bench pressing is greater strength to the target areas being trained, with “secondary stabilization of surrounding areas such as core, shoulders, arms and back,” says Hennebelle. Research validates the bench press exercise’s popularity for gaining power and strength in the upper body.
How soon you see results depends on both the frequency and weight load of your training.
When using improper form, bench pressing can cause a person serious harm, according to Hennebelle. Potential injury risks may come with poor technique where the weight’s path doesn’t align with the pectoral muscles, resulting in unwanted strain, he says.
To ensure you’re using proper bench press technique, Horton suggests asking someone to spot you every time you perform the exercise regardless of your lifting experience. Without a spotter, injury can occur and may be serious. It’s also recommended to seek guidance on proper technique from a certified personal trainer to avoid injury risk.
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Johnaé De Felicis is a health writer and passionate wellpreneur. Her mission in life is to inspire others to lead happy, healthy and wholesome lives, and she covers a variety of topics that are centered around this goal. Johnaé's work also appears in Healthline, Well+Good and Blue Zones.
Adjustable Workout Benches Sabrena Jo, Ph.D., senior director of science and research at the American Council on Exercise, has decades of experience helping people find ways to become physically active. From working one-on-one with clients to leading group fitness classes to teaching and developing curricula at universities, Dr. Jo has always had a passion for supporting people as they start and maintain a physically active lifestyle. A graduate from the University of Kansas, Dr. Jo’s research interests include understanding how the motivational climate influences optimal experiences for participants in various exercise settings.